Another way to protect us: Mail Covers

Mail Covers have been used for over 100 years.  Here's how they work: At the request of law enforcement officials, postal workers record information from the outside of letters and parcels before they are delivered. The information is sent to whatever law enforcement agency asked for it. Tens of thousands of pieces of mail each year undergo this scrutiny.  No court is involved, all that's needed is a request from a police officer of almost any kind and your mail can be copied for 30 days and up to 120.  The requests can be related to either criminal activity or to protect national security.  We know that there are 15,000 - 20,000 criminal requests a year; we don't know the number of national security requests.

In the 21st century the Postal Service introduced the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program.  With this program computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States — about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the government saves the images. Again, no court is required to approve the request, the request by a police officer is sufficient.

Some quotes are in order:

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” -- Benjamin Franklin

“That [surveillance] capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.

“I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.” Senator Frank Church in 1975.